


This is all there is

by Snarkyowl



Category: Markiplier Egos
Genre: Depression, Doc is a sad man, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Suicide Attempt, suicide TW
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 16:13:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14382282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snarkyowl/pseuds/Snarkyowl
Summary: Edward Iplier enters a forest with the intention of bringing his life to a close. Imagine his surprise when he meets a man with a curious illness stemmed from unrequited love.Host is a man that lives in a forest filled with death. He suffers from Hanahaki disease, but not the kind everyone is accustomed to. When he meets a man named Edward, how will he react when he begins to truly love someone?





	This is all there is

It felt wrong, to be here. Somewhere that death hung over your shoulder, a loss of hope tugged at your heart and mind with every step. Still, he moved forward with little hesitance.

Some would probably come to call him a hypocrite, but at this point he couldn’t care any less if he tried to. His steps were light, barely making a sound against the forest floor. He was lucky on that front. It had been raining lately, so much that the leaves and other debris were too wet to really crunch with every step he made.

He kept his eyes downcast, but occasionally he would pause and survey the land around him. He didn’t want this to be theatrical, he just wanted things to be done and over with. 

In his chest, his heart clenched and twisted in violent retaliation to the emotions he was experiencing. Grief pounded against it anyways, unstoppable and relentless in its assault. With grief was the exhaustion, pulling at his mind and his limbs. Just do it here, don’t bother going any farther, it whispered, but he shook it off. He wanted to choose this last thing, just this. You’re doing well, he soothed himself, you’re doing what you want to do no matter how bad it may be. Don’t stop yourself now.

Finally, he stopped. The tree he looked up at was old and covered in moss, beautiful. He didn’t deserve beauty, but this wasn’t about what he deserved. It was him allowing himself, in his final moments, to be selfish. He wanted beauty, so he would have beauty.

Everything went from a violent buzz to a quiet numbness, and Edward Iplier let himself relax. The world around him was hushed, almost muted, and he thanked whatever deities may linger on the earth that he could have this moment of peace. 

Except peace is made to be broken, in Edward’s experience, and soon the silence was broken by another pair of footsteps. 

Edward’s heart stuttered as he listened to them, trying to track where whatever or whoever it was was. Finally, he spotted what had to be a pair of mangled antlers. 

They were moving along with something, presumably (hopefully), a deer as it tracked through the trees. Edward wasn’t sure why, but he felt more than compelled to follow the strange deer. So, follow he did.

It was only when he was close enough to see the body that he realized with a stutter of shocked awe that this was no deer, but rather a man. The man paused, and his head swung around to face where Edward, in general, was. That was when Edward’s heart stopped.

The antlers Edward had thought he had been seeing were not antlers at all, but rather mangled tree stumps. Thin and bent oddly, they grew right out of the man’s eye sockets and followed tightly along his face and head to his temples before they stretched out to form the antler appearance. Flowers grew from the man’s eye sockets as well, and it was almost like the man’s sockets were plant pots rather than a place for eyes to be. Edward found himself feeling both enchanted and horrified to see such a spectacle, leaning forward to try and better see it all. 

What was this man? Was he a man at all? Were the flowers false? An illusion to further hide his true identity? 

Questions flew through Edward’s mind like bullets, ricocheting off walls as they went. They were loud, a cacophony that Edward couldn’t hear over. Thinking straight became a vague memory as he tried to figure out what was going on, but then the man sighed.

“I know someone is there, you’re breathing very loudly.”  
“I’m sorry.” Edward blurted, panicked excitement leading him into taking a few steps forward. “I didn’t- I wasn’t trying to make you think I wasn’t there.”  
“Weren’t you?” The man questioned, and Edward watched his face shift in a way that implied he had lifted his eyebrow at him.

Edward blushed and ducked his head before steeling himself.  
“No, I wasn’t. I was just surprised, and I’m sorry to sound rude but you have to admit to a normal human seeing you is… surprising.” Edward pointed out, allowing himself some sassed sarcasm. Thankfully, the man received it well. Instead of being angry, he only snorted and smirked. 

“I suppose I am quite a thing to behold, aren’t I? Well, I’m sorry to accuse you of sneaking up on me.”  
“I did follow you like a stalker for a while there because I thought you were a deer, so you’re forgiven the accusation.” Edward spoke with surprising calm, and the man’s smirk had yet to fade.

“Why are you out here, anyways?” The man asked, but Edward had a feeling he already knew well and good what the answer to that was. Still, Edward knew the man intended on playing dumb and drawing out an honest answer. He would do the same, in the man’s position.

“I planned to die, but then I saw you and, well, here we are.”  
“Here we are indeed.” The man murmured, nodding his head slightly. I wonder if he ever gets tired, having to hold those things up all of the time. Edward’s thoughts were swarming around the strange man now, thoughts of himself hanging from a noose gone completely. 

He just wanted answers, now.

“My name is Howe,” the man- Howe- said after a moment, “would you like to come to my home for tea?”  
Edward, for some reason, was compelled to say yes.  
“Tea sounds great, thank you Howe. I’m Edward.”  
So, tea with Howe it was.


End file.
